Magic Trick
by radiany
Summary: [Chibizoo's b-day ficlet] Seto's sixth birthday and what happens after. [or "why Seto Kaiba thinks the way he does," starring comfortandmingle!Mokuba, childish!Seto, and laughing!Pegasus]


**Dedication **Chibizoo

**Why** Because I. Missed. Zoo's. Birthday [june 3]. -pulls at her hair- Gah! miss breed, with all her brilliance, inspired me with "Knick, Knack, Paddywack," and Aja with her "a perfect little death." They both write for the Harry Potter fandom, though…

**Labels** chronological order; OOC; weirdness; pre and mid-DuelistKingdom; character analysis; drabble; oneshot; pg

**[beforehand]**

Plotbunny I had before bed. Why Seto Kaiba thinks the way he thinks about magic [and an explanation for his "damn it! I don't believe in your hocus-pocus magic tricks" quirk].

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**Magic Trick**

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_When he was crushed he did not make a sound._

When Seto turned six, his parents had hired a magician to come and entertain him for his birthday.

He wasn't supposed to know about it - but the night before his sixth birthday, the anticipation of a "mystery guest" had been too much to imagine and he had crept from his bedroom and down the hallway to eavesdrop on his parents and their plans. Only after he realized that he'd squeaked in surprise, eyes rounded and wide, had he tiptoed back into bed. He had stayed up until the dawn began to seep from his windowsill wondering who this visitor could be, and ended up falling asleep in his breakfast the next morning. When his parents looked at him, Seto thought that they figured out what he had been up to last night and worried, but they only smiled and wiped his face clean of syrup. His mother attempted to feed Mokuba his cereal while his father asked him what today was.

All his worries had disappeared and he had grinned and stuttered a bit before exclaiming that it was the twenty-fifth of October and that it was his birthday.

Mokuba had turned from his upturned bowl to give him a toothy grin before stammering his brother's name in a happy squeal.

Seto thought it was going to be the best birthday ever.

He didn't know when the magician was supposed to come – so instead of asking, he had snuck behind a large potted plant beside the door and waited, a little scared. Minutes later, Mokuba had waddled over and plopped down beside him. Seto didn't ask, but he felt a little better.

His parents had looked at each other, amused, and didn't say anything.

When the doorbell rang, Seto was down to number six on his "What Mister Magician Will Look Like" list. He had never seen a magician before, so he was a little jittery when his mother came to open the door.

He didn't know that when the "mystery guest" waltzed in, he would find himself amazed. A long cape of stars had swept over the floor, and a tall skinny man with a tall skinny hat had bowed to his mother before turning to look at him, huddled behind the fern. He didn't know that he was staring, only that the tall skinny man had reached out a dark, gloved hand to pull him up.

He had blinked, a little frightened, but managed to smile when the magician asked how old he was. Seto had held out one hand with all its fingers spread before proudly displaying the other hand with the thumb poised up in an arch. The magician had laughed and told him: my, my, six years old already, and: you've grown up to be a big, responsible boy, haven't you.

Seto had nodded, a little jerkily, and stumbled along as the magician led him back to the living room.

There was the fire-eating act (where he asked if it hurt your throat), the scarf trick (where he asked where they came from), and many others that he wouldn't remember but would stare and clap and wonder about later on.

But there was one thing that he would never forget.

When the magician went to leave, having packed all his equipment back in his magic bag, Seto had ran up to him and tugged at the flowing, starry robe. He had asked the tall skinny man how he did all those things, and the tall skinny man only smiled and ruffled his hair, saying that it was a secret.

He then bent down and reached behind Seto's ear, pulling a shiny silver coin out of Seto's hair before placing it into Seto's palm.

The magician had laughed at the astonished look on his face and told him that: he would have to find out for himself, wouldn't he.

Seto spent the rest of the afternoon trying to pull money from his ears.

When his parents were killed, he and Mokuba were sent to live in an orphanage, and he learned that magic and enchantments were fake because everyone could do them if they followed the instructions. There were the plastic wands and glittery "fairy dust" that stuck to your skin and your clothes and your hair for days if you didn't know how to wash it off, and Seto came to see that fairy tales were ludicrous things.

Mokuba once approached him with a deck of cards and told him that he had watched one of the other kids do a magic trick and Seto, big brother, could you please show me how to do it too? Seto had snapped that there was no such thing as magic and there were better things that Mokuba could do than play foolish games. Mokuba had jerked back, as if Seto had slapped him, and said softly that he was sorry before shutting the door.

Seto felt bad about it afterward and apologized to Mokuba before teaching him how to play chess.

After Kaiba had taken over his stepfather's company, he immersed himself in technology and didn't think of magic at all. Everything had either logic or reason and magic had neither, so it wasn't worth his time.

Then Mutou Yuugi came along.

Then Duelist Kingdom came along.

When he found himself trapped in a duel with Pegasus – when he dismissed Crawford's "hocus-pocus" as a result of lunacy and told him as much, Pegasus only laughed and laughed and called him "Kaiba-boy." Then he lost the duel.

Seto Kaiba didn't know how to do magic. He didn't know how it worked.

When he finally saw the real thing, he didn't know what it was.

So he disappeared.

**fin****.**

**[afterward]**

Finished June 23rd, 2004.

Written and modified in 58 minutes.

948 words.

xX I'm _so_ sorry Zoo! I forgot your birthday! I wanted to make more of Pegasus's appearance for you, but I hope this is in the "decent" range…

The style is a bit jerky itself…

Italicized excerpt is the last line of Aja's "a perfect little death" and should be credited to her. Oh! And thanks to misura for pointing out the error with quarters. Err, I'm not sure if "coin" is much better, but it should be acceptable.

**endlog[****4:25 pm****]**


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